Two suspects in fatal robberies in Nashville charged with crimes — but not murder

Lacory Lytle and Demontrey Logsdon were taken into custody for questioning by MNPD in connection with a series of shootings in East Nashville.
Ayrika L Whitney, The Tennessean

Demontrey Logsdon, 20, and Lacory Lytle, 24, both of Nashville, are suspects in three homicides and at least two other shootings since Aug. 8, 2018. Logsdon was taken into custody Aug. 20.(Photo: Metropolitan Nashville (Tenn.) Police Department)

But as of Tuesday morning, neither Demontrey Logsdon, 20, nor Lacory Lytle, 24, both of Nashville, had been charged with any crimes that have killed three Nashvillians, paralyzed one and left another critically wounded. Even so, Logsdon and Lytle have received death threats laced with profanity and angry comments on social media.

Police charged Logsdon with an outstanding warrant for aggravated kidnapping, accused of accompanying another man Friday who had forced his girlfriend to go with him at gunpoint after she had asked a couple to give her a ride so she could get away from her boyfriend.

Lytle was charged with felony identity theft, fraudulent use of a credit card and theft. He is accused of using a credit card stolen Friday from a 32-year-old woman who was one of two people with Jamie Sarrantonio, 30, and Bartley Teal, 33, when they were fatally shot at around 3:30 a.m. CT Friday outside The Cobra bar in the Nashville neighborhood of East Nashville, north of downtown and the Cumberland River.

"I pray that if all the people are not apprehended right now, I pray that somebody from the community will reach out and make that right phone call because we're not the only family here that has been broken," said Bart Teal, Bartley Teal's father.

Kendall Rice, 31, Jamie Sarrantonio, 30, and Bartley Teal, 33, all of Nashville, Tennessee, were killed within three days of one another in August 2018. Two men are believed to be responsible for all three deaths.(Photo: Metropolitan Nashville (Tenn.) Police Department)

Lytle is accused of using a credit card from one of the surviving robbery victims at a grocery store. After the attack that left Sarrantonio and Bartley Teal dead, police found some of the victims' stolen belongings in another neighborhood, North Nashville.

Logsdon was discovered Monday afternoon in a home in the same area. Lytle turned himself in to police a few hours later.

Logsdon's aggravated kidnapping charge links him to Horace Williamson III, 27, of Nashville, whose girlfriend was allegedly kidnapped briefly. Williamson was charged Monday in connection with an Aug. 12 carjacking and robbery in the Nashville neighborhood of Bellevue, about a dozen miles southwest of downtown.

Williamson is accused of robbing at gunpoint a 26-year-old man, who had stopped his SUV to check on a dog in the road. Police said Williamson then ordered the victim to run away while he fled in the man's 2017 Dodge Journey, which was found Friday in an alley about a half mile south of where The Cobra victims' belongings were discovered.

Sarrantonio and Bartley Teal, whose families had memorial services for them Tuesday, are the most recent victims in a set of robberies that police say began Aug. 8 when a 39-year-old woman, who was walking her dogs around 12:30 a.m., was shot in the back in the Inglewood neighborhood, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood northeast of downtown.

“It could have been any one of us (shot).”

Julie Ewell, Nashville, Tennessee

She is now paralyzed but is going to begin intensive physical therapy in hopes of walking again, her husband said Sunday. Both have asked to remain unidentified because they are crime victims.

On Aug. 14, Kendall Rice, 31, was shot to death and robbed as he walked to the bus at 5 a.m. in Madison, 7 miles north of Inglewood, to go to work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Fifteen minutes later, another man was shot and critically wounded nearby in an apparent robbery attempt.

Then on Friday, Sarrantonio and Bartley Teal were gunned down after celebrating Teal's 33rd birthday with two friends in a section of East Nashville, also in the midst of gentrification, that is bustling with bars and music venues.

Bartley Teal was a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the alternative rock band Terrestrial Radio. The band had played its first gig at The Cobra in February, said Magan Rance Rish, who a singer in the band.

“It could have been any one of us,” said Julie Ewell, 38, who had happened to stop by The Cobra on Friday night to wish the younger Teal a happy birthday and buy him a couple of drinks.

Last year Nashville reported 107 homicides, the most since the city's all-time high of 112 in 1997. So far this year, this city of about 670,000 has had 43 homicides, according to Metropolitan Nashville Police crime data.

Yet some people in the areas with the most recent killings now are reluctant to leave their houses at night because of the crimes. South Inglewood resident Erin Keane said that not only is she concerned for her own safety but for that of her fiancé, Ryan Bexley, also a musician.

"I still don't want to walk outside and walk my dog," said Keane, 29. "It makes me fear for Ryan every time he goes to play downtown. It's even made me wary of taking Uber rides because I have no idea who's driving me."

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Julie Ewell hugs an employee outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, where two victims were killed as part of a string of shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Joshua Goble lights candles at a memorial at The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, where two victims were killed as part of a string of shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Julie Ewell wipes a tear as she talks about one of the victims outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, where two were killed as part of a string of shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Frederick Morton, who lives with his wife near The Cobra bar, said Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, that he hopes his East Nashville community doesn't change after a shooting there left two dead. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Flowers and mementos rest outside The Cobra bar Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, in memory of two of the three victims killed in a string of unsolved shootings that have terrorized Nashville this month. George Walker IV / The Tennessean